Hands
"Hands" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the FX original series Sons of Anarchy, and the series' forty-ninth episode overall. Summary Jax and Tara discover the peaceful possibilities of life outside of SAMCRO, but the harsh reality of their inability to leave the rest of the group behind quickly makes itself known to the two of them. Plot Clay takes stacks of cash out of his safe. Gemma sees him leave with a bag as he says he's off to deal with the Mexicans. She checks the safe and finds it almost empty except for a small packet of bills. At home, Jax straps a pistol on his ankle and prepares to head out with Tara. Gemma joins them ostensibly to say good-bye. She asks if Clay knows their plans. Jax says there's nothing left to do with the Mexicans, it's an internal beef. Juice sits in jail where the ATF have planted him. Up at Piney's cabin Unser wears gloves, a surgical mask and even paper booties, an entire Crime Scene Investigators-type outfit, as he fires guns to set up the shooting scene. Gemma calls, saying something is wrong. She tells him about Clay taking the money and lying about cartel business. She asks him to get back quickly. Clay rides off the beaten path where he meets Romeo's contract assassin and gives him the bag of cash and location info, up the I-99 highway. He wants it quick and painless and tells him not to mess up her face. Jax and Tara are driving along the highway singing children's songs with their two sons in the back seat. Gemma finds Clay outside the club. She tells him Jax is with Tara. This is very bad news to Clay. Clay calls Romeo asking him to stop the hit. Romeo says there's no way to reach the hitter. After Romeo gets off the phone, he tells Luis to call the hitter and warn him to be careful, because Jax is probably armed. But he doesn't say to stop it. Clay sends Tig on the road after Jax to bring him back. Chibs reports that no one has been able to reach Juice for two days. Opie, who still has no inkling that Piney has been murdfered, wants to go check on his dad at the cabin, but Clay asks him to stick around. Jax stops for gas with Tara and the kids. He's wary as a California highway patrol motorcycle unit pulls up. Instead, the guy comes over and starts talking cars and bikes with Jax. Roosevelt visits Lincoln, who tells him Juice is in ATF holding. Roosevelt says the Sons were just downstairs looking for him. Roosevelt accuses Lincoln of playing him worse than the club, using him as a local scapegoat. He tells him he's done working for him. Lincoln reminds him he signed an agreement of participation and the implications of that agreement. Jax and Tara hang out in the park with their boys. She wants to take the Portland job if it's offered. He says she should. He says he has one more deal to lock down and he'll be ready to go. They bask in their happiness and impending freedom, while Romeo's hitter watches him from a nearby park bench. Back at the club, Tig reports he can't reach Jax. Chibs says Juice was picked up yesterday, but hasn't been seen since he was released. Gemma sees Clay worrying. She asks him why he took the money out of the safe. She won't accept the "club money" answer. He talks down and reminds her like she's "not a member of the club, just an old lady" and tells her not to forget it. She says OK and leaves. Tara straps her son in the back seat at the park while Jax walks to the trash bin. All of a sudden a van pulls up and two men in hooded masks grab Tara and start to drive off with her. Jax sees it happen and races across the park. He checks quickly on his boys in the car then chases off after the van on foot. He fires after it and hits it, causing it to swerve. Tara fights with her abductor like a woman possessed inside the back of the van and gets her right hand slammed in the sliding door trying to escape. The van slows to a temporary stall and Jax catches up. Tara jumps out and Jax punches the masked shooter to break her free. A shooter with a submachine gun takes aim at her, but he steps in front of her and the shooter lowers the gun and the van drives off. An ambulance crew prepares to take Tara to another hospital. The sheriff's deputy Jax ran into at the gas station overrules the EMTs and tells them to follow Tara's wishes and take her to her hospital. He tells Jax he knows that he's on federal release and he better not have had a gun and participated in any of the shooting. Jax denies any involvement in the shooting. The Deputy promises to finish up at the hospital. At the hospital, they wheel Tara to x-ray. Gemma wants to know what happened, but Jax has to talk to the sheriff's investigators first. Lincoln visits Juice in ATF lock up. Lincoln brings paperwork, saying they'll only prosecute the club members who go to the Irish meet. Juice only has to find out where the meet is. They'll give him a cell phone to track him. If he doesn't come through, Lincoln says he'll settle for all of the Sons. Clay arrives at the hospital. Gemma tells him someone tried to take Tara and hurt her. Clay asks if they know who did it. Gemma looks at him like maybe she might. Jax tells the guys they were speaking Spanish and assumes it's Lobo retaliation. Tara looks at her X-ray. She has three broken bones and nerve damage. Jax and the sons visit LaRoy's club with Alvarez and some Mayans. They don't get far when a Niner shoots Alvarez's main guy Rafi in the head. There's a lot of shooting and ducking for cover before Jax and LaRoy are able to shout everyone down. The Niners thought they were the cartel. LaRoy explains that since the Lobos took out three of his men that morning, they're all a little jumpy. Alvarez looks and calmly shoots one of the Niners in the head in retaliation for Rafi. Jax wants the Lobo contact info, but instead LeRoy tells them to get out before he starts shooting. Clay gets ready to meet with Romeo but tells Jax he's too fired up to go. Opie agrees. At the hospital, Margaret the Administrator finds Gemma alone in the chapel. She asks if Gemma has any remorse about what happened. Margaret says she's been trying to get Tara to leave for a year and she shouldn't be with Jax. Margaret, who knows a thing or three about being a "biker's old lady," tells Gemma she's an awful woman and everything that's happening to Tara is her fault. Gemma doesn't disagree. Chibs and Opie ride back to the club house and find Juice there. He says he rode out to Yosemite to clear his head. Clay, Bobby and Tig meet with Romeo's crew. Clay talks to Romeo privately, saying it's bad but that they think the Lobos did it. Romeo is unfazed. They give Clay his money back, but they're going through with the hit without Clay. Romeo says he'll deal with it personally since she's a threat. Clay suggests they give Jax a few Lobos to satisfy his need for revenge. After surgery, the doctor tells Tara she has severe nerve damage. They don't know if they can fix it. She might not be able to perform surgery. Gemma finds Clay at home, putting the money back in the safe. "What's the matter? Change your mind? Get a refund because they didn't kill her?" she demands. Clay pretends not to know what she's talking about. He says he had nothing to do with it. Gemma points out he didn't know Jax was going to be with her and what if they'd hurt the kids. He advances on her and she takes out a gun. He snarls at her, asking if she's going to kill him like she did the first husband. She says he killed JT, but he says she manipulated him into it. He suggests he might tell Jax about that. She fires near his head. He smacks the gun out of her hand and she punches him across the face. He whacks her across the room and pins her on the table. She kicks him off her and she hurls things at him. She runs for the door, but can't get out before Clay chases her down and grabs her, throwing her to the floor. He punches her hard in the face, then again. He beats her with his ringed fingers as she lies bloody and pinned on the floor. Back at the hospital, Tara is in shock over her career possibly being over, and is heavily medicated from the surgery. Jax tries to talk to her. He knows it's his fault and wants her to at least get mad at him. "This had to happen," she says. She says he can't leave Charming, the club won't let him, Gemma won't let him, Charming won't let him. "The only way I can be with you is if I lose my way out," she says. "I have a dead hand, no one will want me now. I'll never save another life again." She says it's OK, because now they can be together, all of them and Gemma in Charming. She goes on, suggesting she should smash her other hand so she can just stay at home. She tells him to leave. He tries to comfort her, reach for her, anything. She screams at him to leave, finally breaking down in tears. Jax steps outside crying. He runs in to Roosevelt. Jax says "not now" and Roosevelt understands. He rounds the corner and runs into Juice and a bunch of the guys. Roosevelt asks for a minute with Juice. Roosevelt starts with an apology. Juice points out it's a bit late for that. The sheriff tells him to let him know if they need anything with Tara. The guys check on Jax. After hugs all around, they all leave. Jax asks Opie to stay. He tells him he's been lying to him, that the deal with Clay and cartel was to get him out, too. He tells Opie he's leaving the club after the deal with the Irish. Opie reminds Jax that he's the one who talked him into staying after his five-year prison bit. Opie tells him he needs him in the club. Jax says his family needs him more, and acknowledges that if he had let Opie leave, Donna, his first wife and mother of his children, would probably still be alive. He apologizes, and tells him to fix things with his wife and talk to his dad. At the clubhouse, Juice sits alone. Clay drives up. Juice dials his drop phone to check in with Lincoln. The guys see Clay is bruised, but he doesn't say anything, just goes upstairs with an overnight bag. Unser visits Gemma at her house. He surveys the damage. Gemma's smoking a joint alone in the dark. Unser sees her face. She has been beaten very severely, and he knows Clay did it. She won't go to the hospital. Unser can barely handle seeing her like that. Gemma says there's nothing else to do. "Clay can't be saved," she says. Unser wants to point Piney's murder back at Clay. Gemma takes a deep drag and makes a declaration: "He's not going down by law, he's going to die by the hand of a Son." Leaving it ambiguous as to whether Son refers to a SAMCRO member or Jax (being Clay's stepson). Church meetings (not technically a church meeting) Tig (enters chapel): Clay. Clay, I can't get ahold of Jax, man. He's not picking up. Tara either. I've got the name of the hotel, I'll have Rogue River waiting. You want me up there? Clay: No. Keep calling. (Tig walks away) Chibs: Roosevelt picked up Juice yesterday. Another piss test. Released him last night, but he hasn't been seen since. Gemma: Call his old girlfriend. Tends to crawl back there when he's been wounded. Bobby: Well, Precious stays in touch with her. I'll give her a call. (Bobby and Tig walk away) ---- Deaths * 3 unnamed Niners - Killed by Lobos Sonora. * Rafi - Shot in the head by Niner. * Gill - Shot in the head by Marcus Alvarez. Trivia *This episode is co-written by David Labrava, who plays Happy Lowman. Credits Main Cast * Charlie Hunnam as Jackson 'Jax' Teller * Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow * Mark Boone Junior as Bobby 'Elvis' Munson * Dayton Callie as Wayne Unser * Kim Coates as Alex 'Tig' Trager * Tommy Flanagan as Filip 'Chibs' Telford * Ryan Hurst as Harry 'Opie' Winston * William Lucking as Piermont 'Piney' Winston * Theo Rossi as Juan Carlos 'Juice' Ortiz * Maggie Siff as Tara Knowles * Ron Perlman as Clarence 'Clay' Morrow Supporting Cast Special guest stars * Danny Trejo as Romero 'Romeo' Parada * Ray McKinnon as Lincoln Potter * Rockmond Dunbar as Eli Roosevelt Guest stars * Emilio Rivera as Marcus Alvarez * Tory Kittles as Laroy Wayne * Benito Martinez as Luis Torres * Jesse Garcia as Rafi * McNally Sagal as Margaret Murphy * Christopher Douglas Reed as Philip 'Filthy Phil' Russell * Niko Nicotera as George 'Ratboy' Skogstrom * Olivia Burnette as Homeless Woman Co-stars * Al Vicente as Alphonse Medina * Matt Riedy as CHP Officer * Matt Orduna as Dr. Balian * E.R. Ruiz as Gill * Terrence Edwards as EMS * Christopher Michael as Watch Commander * Steve Wilcox as Masked Man #1 * Coley Mustafa Speaks as Niner Featured Music * Endless Boogie - "Tarmac City" * David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights - "Way Down Here" * Yelawolf - "Hard White (Up in the Club)" * Beck - "Iron Horse" * Battleme & The Forest Rangers - "Time" Category:Season 4 episodes Category:Season 4